Smith and Monta will take over starting PF and backup SG duties until Baby and BRush is healthy.

Oh yeah, I like this VERY NICE!

Very talented front five that I guarantee won't make it through the year without at least one season ending injury because you are going to have to play them 45 minutes a game due to injuries and a lack of backups. My guess is Brand won't last the year playing big minutes and then Smith and Noah will have to play every minute of time at the 4 and 5.

This team needs time to get healthy in the worst way. Until then I would expect a fast start of the year and a limp into the end of the year.

With Gasol this is a very good team even though I am not in love with the idea of Johnson playing primarily as a small forward. He usually only plays about half his time there and from what I have seen of him this year, he's struggled when he has had to play the 3. Still, with Gasol, a playoff team.

Without Gasol, WOW!!! The youth up front is going to kill you. The team becomes lottery fodder without Gasol I am afraid.

You sure about the Johnson-at-the-3 part? According to 82games.com, the Nets have been a better team this year with Johnson at the 3 than they have been with Johnson at the 2, although the numbers are pretty close. I think he can handle it.

Agree with what you said about Gasol though. If he can't stay healthy, I'm screwed. But I think you could say that about almost any team that loses their second-best player.

Definitely a team of the future that needs time to grow. Sadly, the future might be the one ting keeping this team apart.

I was thinking of this when I put the Boxers together this year in the CB Draft. If you get 4-5 of these players that become great players, ultimately paying them and keeping them together is nearly impossible when it comes to the realities of today's salary environment.

So here we are, in an endeavor that mixes the salary with the drafting. You have a hard cap. Detroit could not afford to be hugely over the cap even if the hard cap wasn't there given the current economy in Detroit any way. So how do you keep Munroe, Drummond, Parsons and Bargnani when that future comes?

I think you have to be in the playoffs next year and contending the year after before the salary bombs start to hit and it might need to be broken up. Of course, if you aren't doing that by then, then it doesn't matter because then obviously Drummond, Parsons and Munroe won't be worth the money they might ask for.

I've got lots of youngins on my team as well, and I think you're overstating the connundrum. If you're going to lose a promising young player in free agency, trade him.

Lets say that Greg Smith, an affordably priced prospect and player now, developed into a 15 and 10 machine.

But, because of Bogut's and Stepheson's extensions, I don't think I'll be able to pay him.

Well the answer is easy. You package him, all the assets you whiffed on (not that I'll have any), and trade him for a promising prospect and draft picks.

So how do you do that without sending a message to your fans that winning it all isn't the most important thing?

In a way I think we are spoiled being fans of the C's as they have had that win it all mentality since getting here but imagine doing what you are suggesting? You suddenly you become compared to the Grizzlies who are doing the exact thing you are suggesting. I wouldn't want to be a Griz fan right now?

The Grizzlies had to do it, the Thunder had to do it. The successful teams win anyway without regressing too much, and look to get better long-term.

You sure about the Johnson-at-the-3 part? According to 82games.com, the Nets have been a better team this year with Johnson at the 3 than they have been with Johnson at the 2, although the numbers are pretty close. I think he can handle it.

Johnson also is less efficient at the 3 and a worse defender. I think the team numbers have more to do with the Nets supporting cast (better depth atthe 2) than with Johnson.

Definitely a team of the future that needs time to grow. Sadly, the future might be the one ting keeping this team apart.

I was thinking of this when I put the Boxers together this year in the CB Draft. If you get 4-5 of these players that become great players, ultimately paying them and keeping them together is nearly impossible when it comes to the realities of today's salary environment.

So here we are, in an endeavor that mixes the salary with the drafting. You have a hard cap. Detroit could not afford to be hugely over the cap even if the hard cap wasn't there given the current economy in Detroit any way. So how do you keep Munroe, Drummond, Parsons and Bargnani when that future comes?

I think you have to be in the playoffs next year and contending the year after before the salary bombs start to hit and it might need to be broken up. Of course, if you aren't doing that by then, then it doesn't matter because then obviously Drummond, Parsons and Munroe won't be worth the money they might ask for.

I've got lots of youngins on my team as well, and I think you're overstating the connundrum. If you're going to lose a promising young player in free agency, trade him.

Lets say that Greg Smith, an affordably priced prospect and player now, developed into a 15 and 10 machine.

But, because of Bogut's and Stepheson's extensions, I don't think I'll be able to pay him.

Well the answer is easy. You package him, all the assets you whiffed on (not that I'll have any), and trade him for a promising prospect and draft picks.

So how do you do that without sending a message to your fans that winning it all isn't the most important thing?

In a way I think we are spoiled being fans of the C's as they have had that win it all mentality since getting here but imagine doing what you are suggesting? You suddenly you become compared to the Grizzlies who are doing the exact thing you are suggesting. I wouldn't want to be a Griz fan right now?

The Grizzlies had to do it, the Thunder had to do it. The successful teams win anyway without regressing too much, and look to get better long-term.

The other thing is Chandler is locked in at under a million until after 2015. Monroe's qualifying offer in 2015 is only 5.4 and Drummond is locked up at under 4 until 2016. meanwhile, cap'n jack's salary is off the books this year, Bargs is off thew books in 2015 and Stuckey's money is Unguaranteed next year. So I have both time to see if this core is working and plenty of money to spend on them if it is.

Kick Jamison out of the rotation - he's too mediocre a scorer and too horrible a defender to be starting for you. Really like that you got LO for this team - someone who can rebound and play solid defense and help the pacers match-up against teams with quick, jump-shooting 5s that give Hibbert so much trouble.

Ok so I guess my reach for Patterson wasn't so bad afterall. I really thought he would fit in well with that starting group but I was having doubts. Not the 4 that I love next to Nash, but he'll do.

And Tony Allen should be starting somewhere, and you could use that depth elsewhere.

Yeah I've shopped this group around a lot, including TA, and truthfully I've had a lot of trouble finding suitable trade offers in general. This whole drafting in the dead middle didn't really help either. At this point I feel like I have a pretty fun team, a lot of limitations, but a team that I'd enjoy watching. And for now that's good enough for me, haha.

Without Bynum, the team is obviously a lot less dangerous. But, I feel really good about my prospects as a 2k13 franchise, really good about my future prospects as a fake team in an imaginary celticsblog league, and not despondent about my odds of making the playoffs as a low seed.

With Bynum I see no issue with getting to the playoffs, and possibly making a little noise there.

Without Bynum, the team is obviously a lot less dangerous. But, I feel really good about my prospects as a 2k13 franchise, really good about my future prospects as a fake team in an imaginary celticsblog league, and not despondent about my odds of making the playoffs as a low seed.

With Bynum I see no issue with getting to the playoffs, and possibly making a little noise there.

Someone, either IP or Nick, asked if a team had ever won a championship without a dominant perimeter player. 1994 Rockets, 1999 Spurs, 2004 Pistons all come to mind. But also, I really feel like Chandler Parsons is on his way to becoming a Stephen Jackson ( 20, 5,5,) calibre player.

It means that my forward will always have a offensive mismatch, and that I'll maintain spacing, especially against second units. Thomas/Ellington/Harris mean that even when my starters rest, production should persist. Not world beaters or anything, but I think it means I'm pretty smart and awesome.

In most lineups, if you're playing Harris at the 3 next to like, Reggie Evans, he's not nearly as productive. You can't help off my guys.

It means that my forward will always have a offensive mismatch, and that I'll maintain spacing, especially against second units. Thomas/Ellington/Harris mean that even when my starters rest, production should persist. Not world beaters or anything, but I think it means I'm pretty smart and awesome.

In most lineups, if you're playing Harris at the 3 next to like, Reggie Evans, he's not nearly as productive. You can't help off my guys.

I really think this is why SO and I lost last year, because neither of us could be bothered to give an in-depth analysis of why Carlos Delfino and Devin Harris were awesome.

It means that my forward will always have a offensive mismatch, and that I'll maintain spacing, especially against second units. Thomas/Ellington/Harris mean that even when my starters rest, production should persist. Not world beaters or anything, but I think it means I'm pretty smart and awesome.

In most lineups, if you're playing Harris at the 3 next to like, Reggie Evans, he's not nearly as productive. You can't help off my guys.

I really think this is why SO and I lost last year, because neither of us could be bothered to give an in-depth analysis of why Carlos Delfino and Devin Harris were awesome.

Yeah I get the impression IP could make a turd sandwich sound appetizing.

I ain't fooled though, a turd is still a turd, fancy baguette and trimmings or not.